Whenever we read, write, say or decide using the terms "and", "or", or "not" we have used a Boolean operation.Whenever we think about selection, inclusion, exclusion or negation, we have used a Boolean operation.When programming computers (stay with me for second) we often write phrases like:
if (conditionA is true) AND (conditionB is true) then do something.
When making routine decisions we might think something like:
IF (sky is blue) AND (temperature is warm) THEN go outside.
We can talk about what the terms sky and blue and temperature and warm mean later.
Not only can we write symbolic expressions, or think symbolic thoughts, we can draw symbolic pictures.
Where I am going is this.
When we write or think in the way discussed above, we are doing our Boolean operations on the front end.
that is, "IF such and such (Boolean operation) THEN do something"
But we can also perform Boolean operations in our actions on the backend.
That is to say, "IF such and such then do something (Boolean operation)".
For example
IF (sky is dark) THEN (take umbrella) AND (go outside)
We can even have Boolean operations on the front and backend
IF (sky is dark) AND (temperature is cold) THEN (take umbrella) AND (wear coat) AND (go outside).
But forget all this for a moment. I said all that just to say the following. If we are doing an OR instead of an AND we run into a problem.
Whenever we ANDed two or more actions, it is understood that we did BOTH or ALL of them, whether sequentially or concurrently it doesn't matter right now. But when we OR two or more actions we are left with a curious nondeterminism:
IF (sky is dark) OR (temperature is cold) THEN (take umbrella) OR (wear coat) AND (go outside).
We are left with an unspecified decision. These decisions come up all the time in real life, and we often dismiss them, but they are an enormous source of decision noise in our lives.
I would like to dig in to both the mechanistic/automatonic view of this nondeterminism, and also the practical and real world view of it.
That's the deal!
